Emily Stone is the main protagonist in my thriller series, Compulsion, Dead Game, and Dark Mind. She has been aptly described as a phantom forensic investigator and a vigilante detective because she hunts down serial killers and child pedophiles with a vengeance – all anonymously. She is driven to help victims of heinous crimes, especially children. After she retrieves her information by careful surveillance, profiling, and CSI documentation techniques, she then emails to the detective in charge of a specific case.

Seven solid facts about Emily Stone:

1. Originally trained as a police officer in Valparaiso, Indiana.
2. Parents were killed in a robbery when she was only twelve years old. The killer was never caught.
3. Prefers the comfort of her Bobcat Beretta to that of a Smith & Wesson.
4. Has absolutely NO tolerance for violence against children and would give her life to save a child.
5. Favors her four-legged companion “Sergeant” to spending time with new people.
6. Always has at least one gun available at all times.
7. Born a “real” blonde.

Emily Stone came to life for me because of a personal experience I had with a disturbing psychopath that threatened to kill me on a regular basis, who just happened to live next door. Every day I was constantly reminded that this person was less than a stone’s throw away.

The reality of my situation was that law enforcement couldn’t really do anything until he physically hurt or killed me. That was a bitter pill for me to take, but I didn’t let that get me down. I wasn’t looking forward to becoming a crime statistic and I took extra precautions by hiring a personal trainer to train me in advanced self-defense tactics (hand-to-hand combat and kickboxing). I pity anyone who jumps out of the bushes or a closet to scare me.

I focused on the positive side to my unsettling situation. I was able to meet many outstanding people in law enforcement and I began studying forensics and criminal psychology, which is now a passion for me. I’d say that I was able to overcome what could have become a major stumbling block in my life. I’m a stronger person because of it.

You could say that my situation became the basic inspiration for Compulsion. From there, so many story ideas bubbled to the surface and many more are scheduled in the future.

During the time I created Emily Stone, the statistics on missing children became the icing on the cake for her character. I was astounded to discover how many children are reported missing every day in the United States.

Approximately 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the U.S. and out of that startling number 58,000 were victims of non-family abductions (160 each day). ** FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) **

In addition, there are only about 735,000 sworn officers in the US out of a population of 309 million people. Investigators and detectives are a small percentage of those sworn police officers.

Why should we care about Emily Stone?

Her fictional character helps to fill a need of crime fighting and supports law enforcement with their homicide and abduction investigations in order to solve more cases. Even though, it’s just crime fiction. On paper, she takes us into her lone wolf world on some thrilling adventures and we get to watch violent criminals brought to justice.

Emily Stone Thriller Series (all novels easily stand-alone) is available in paperback and ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.